The Other
by aqueenoftheclouds
Summary: While trying to open the door between the worlds, the Russians released something else.


_August 22, 1984_

Light. Blue light. It forced her eyelids apart, blinded her for a second. For a moment she wasn't aware of her surroundings, didn't remember where she was, how she'd gotten there. Why all was black and red and wrong. Realisation hit her like a brick wall, releasing adrenaline into her bloodstream.

That light... it was life, a way out, the first semblance of hope in a deserted sea of fear.

Vines wrapped tighter around her body, pulsating and constricting her breathing as she chocked on black slime. As quickly as it had surged, her energy dimmed, hands falling limp next to her body.

The blue light expanded, grew more intense, as though calling out to her. The ground beneath her trembled. She bit down, fingers digging into the dirt, pushing her body up, screaming at the effort and the pain and the red and black.

Coughing up darkness, she crawled forward, practically blind, practically lifeless. Every bone hurt, every muscle cramped and locked. But she continued, toward the light, toward hope.

Her hand reached for the light, her fingers crossing into a different world. Her fist closed, holding onto to the fresh air.

The pain was swift and all-encompassing. She hit the ground, cold stone against her shoulder – it was most likely dislocated.

A giant gulp of air and the pain was momentarily forgotten; it was pure oxygen, no poisoned air, no heaviness, no nightmares. She opened her eyes at the sound of steps, still drunk on fresh air, watching as dozens of bodies ran towards her. Her instincts told her to run, but her body was falling apart.

Flashlights, weapons, screaming voices.

She recoiled, trying to cover her ears, hide her torso, protect herself somehow.

Then one voice, stricter, slightly panicked. A man ran through the crowd, coming to kneel just in front her. Curls and glasses, a white coat, that's about all she could make out.

He was speaking to her, but it was a language she couldn't understand. He gestured toward her, the room around them, the strange machine that appeared broken behind them. Still, she knew nothing.

He moved closer, slowly, trying not to scare her.

She let him.

He placed a hand on his chest, eyes wide.

"Alexei."

His name, he was telling her his name.

She placed a hand on her own chest.

"Three."

_Kamchatka, October 1985_

The night exploded into sound. Alarms rang in all directions, coming from above and below, the walls themselves. He grunted, curling into a ball, sweat dripping off of his too-hot skin. It was too loud, everything was too loud and his head was about to crack in two.

The door to his cell opened and Hopper stumbled to his feet, preparing for the onslaught that was sure to come his way. Instead, a sole figure stood at the threshold.

He narrowed his eyes, ignored the hand wrapped around his heart.

It couldn't be... it was his imagination playing tricks on him, it was the hours in the dark having only his mind for company, it was because he missed her so much that it hurt worse than his healing ribs, because it couldn't be...

"Elle?"

The girl stepped into the cell, wrapping an arm around Hopper's frame, holding him up. "Not yet."

No, it wasn't Elle. This girl was taller, older. But she looked like Elle. The same shoulder length wavy hair, the same dark eyes and soft features.

"Can you walk?" Hopper nodded, placing more weight on his legs, trying to clear the clouds from his starved, foggy brain. There were questions, he wanted to refute, fight. But he didn't. "Good. You're too big for me to carry."

The two stepped out into the lit corridor and Hopper took another look at the girl that had just freed him. She was wearing military grade clothes, the same clothes the guards outside his door always wore, with a riffle strapped to her back and several smaller weapons around her waist. She looked ready for war.

The corridor was empty, despite all the alarms, despite the flashing lights. There was no one in sight.

"Where are they? Where are the guards?"

The girl snickered. "Attending to an explosion on the East side."

Due to Hopper's weakened condition, their progress was slow. The girl was visibly frustrated but didn't complain. Instead, she focused on a map only her eyes could see, guiding them out of whatever prison or facility he'd been thrown into.

A gun fired.

The girl screamed and crumbled to the floor, grabbing at her bleeding thigh. Hopper looked behind them and saw a guard, a guard he was very familiar with. He always found particular pleasure in hearing Hopper scream.

He tried to shield her away but the girl gritted her teeth and stood up, pushing him aside. The levels of pain she must have endured to be able to withstand this bullet wound like it was nothing had him wondering how long she'd been kept in those facilities.

"Put your gun down." She said. _Ordered_.

Hopper was about to point out that he would most definitely _not_ follow a command from her when suddenly, he did.

"You're going to walk out of this building and take your clothes off. Then you will turn North and start walking. You will walk until your feet bleed and your hands freeze and you will keep walking. You will never stop."

And as Hopper watched, he did.

When the girl returned to his side, her nose was bleeding.

"Who-"

"Like I said," the girl picked up the weapon abandoned by the guard and threw it at him, "not yet. Gotta get out of here first."

"How did you get a truck?"

They were out in the woods, having crossed the remnants of the facility with no more encounters. There was even a section of the gated fence that had been cut through. As though waiting for them.

"Part of the reason it took so long to get you out. Small orders over time." She reached for something in one of her pockets and threw it at him. Keys. "Are you okay to drive?"

Thankful for the chance to regain some control, Hopper jumped into the driver's side of the military truck. The girl settled next to him, immediately tending to the wound on her leg.

"Are you okay?"

She nodded, wrapping gauze around her leg. "Through and through, no bone, no major arteries or I would have died by now." She closed her eyes and leaned back. "I'll be fine. Just drive. There's a map somewhere in here."

Hopper started the car and tore off into the dark, searching as he went. He found the map under his seat. He drove for a long time, eyes glued to the rear-view mirror, before he finally took a breath. With the adrenaline of the escape winding down, the questions were taking over. He couldn't help but glance at the girl from time to time, to the likeliness, to the dried blood on her nose.

From her corner of the booth the girl sighed. "You can ask me now."

He indulged. "Who are you?"

She stared at him, like she didn't understand the question, or didn't know the answer. "I'm Three."

Hopper swerved, earning a groan. "Sorry, sorry, are you okay?"

_Three_ leaned over the dashboard, breathing hard through her nose. "Will be."

"You were with Elle? You were part of the experiments?"

She looked over her shoulder at him, narrowing her eyes in question: _are you sure you want to know?_

"She was barely a toddler the last time I saw her. They were making progress, wanted more children."

"So what you did back there-"

"I can get inside people's heads, make them do things." Her eyes had a dangerous glint to them. "Whatever I want."

Hopper trembled. Realised what she meant. "Is that how you got me out? Why I didn't fight you?"

She didn't look guilty, nor particularly satisfied either. "We didn't have time for questions."

He wasn't sure how to feel about the intrusion. "How did you end up here?"

She chuckled. It was sad. "I didn't really. I was in the Upside Down. When I tried to escape, I was surrounded by Russians."

"Why were you in there?"

She was silent for so long, he thought she'd fallen asleep. When he'd all but given up on an answer, her voice filled the space. "I thought they would stop. I thought that if I disappeared into the Upside Down the experiments would shut down, that they would think it was too much work, too much money wasted. I thought they would give up and release the other children." She took a shaky breath. "They didn't."

"How old were you? When you escaped." his voice cracked.

"Thirteen."

Hopper took in the weight of her words, her sacrifice. The girl next to him should be starting college. It had been years, _years_, since she'd gone into the Upside Down. And it had been for nothing.

"How did you survive?"

"I don't know. I just kept running. That's all I did. And then, the light came and I was out."

"Why did you save me? Why am I here?"

Three extended her leg, trying to make herself comfortable. "I can also see into the minds of some people, the ones I share a connection with, a bond." She turned towards him. "I saw you, saw that you were with Eleven." A smile. "She's grown up."

"How?"

"Alexei." Hopper's heart sunk to his stomach, a knott at his throat. "He's the one that protected me and took care of me once I came back. we couldn't understand each other so he would bring me newspapers to show me what was happening, what _had_ happened while I was-away. Sometimes he would even make drawings to explain things to me, teach me. He made sure I was well fed. Tried to limit my beatings as much as he could. Taught me some Russian." She grinned. "Gave me my first drink too."

"You were one of the last things I saw in his mind, along with the door to the Upside Down and Eleven. They weren't exactly discreet when they brought you here. And neither were you. Taught me some new curse words." She laughed. "I was already planning my escape, so I just had to make some adjustments."

"Thank you. Thank you for getting me out. For taking me home." _To Elle_.

She raised an eyebrow. "We're not home _yet_. So, where is he? I haven't been able to see into Alexei for a while. Is he finally taking a vacation? Has he drank so many Slurpees his brain went into overdrive?"

Hopper felt his chest his eyes on the road. "Alexei was killed. I'm-I'm sorry."

When he finally chanced a glance at Three, she was bent over herself, crying in silence. Agony was etched into every part of her. He focused on the road again, giving her as much privacy as possible in such close quarters.

The sun was beginning to rise when Three's raspy, tear-stained voice broke the silence. "Did you make them pay?" Hopper only nodded. "Good. Now it's time to go back to Hawkins."


End file.
